Chapter 4

Chapter 4

If it had been a second earlier, the half-step He Wei took back had only been a subconscious reaction when someone of the opposite sex approached; but at this moment, it was entirely out of resistance toward the man in front of her.

She hadn’t expected that even trying on a camera test would make her run into Yan Huai.

There was a faint smell of cigarettes on the man, mixed with an almost imperceptible cool scent that flowed into her nose. He Wei’s eyelashes trembled slightly. Lowering her eyes, she glimpsed the cigarette pinched between the fingertips of his left hand. It should have been that she interrupted him midway, so he hadn’t had time to light it yet.

He Wei had blocked his car this morning, and just now had blocked him from smoking. If she dared to ignorantly step back again now, it would probably be hard not to attract Yan Huai’s attention.

Acting on impulse easily brewed great trouble.

He Wei let out a breath and forcibly stopped her steps, not daring to retreat any further.

After the fabric at her shoulder had been torn open, the dress on her body was on the verge of slipping off, swaying precariously.

To reduce her presence, He Wei lowered her head even more.

The flush at the root of her ears from the fright hadn’t faded yet. Her heartbeat was intense. With her eyelashes lowered, she happened to see that the man loosened his hand.

He Wei slightly let out a breath of relief and thanked him softly, “Thank you, President Yan.”

She wasn’t familiar with Yan Huai; this form of address was the most appropriate.

The original female lead whose body He Wei was wearing wasn’t tall. Even with shoes on, she was under 1.65 meters. Standing in front of the tall, long-legged man, she appeared even more petite and delicate.

Yan Huai lowered his head and glanced at her. Her face was the size of a palm, her eyelashes very long. The lighting on the set was bright enough to clearly illuminate even the very fine, faint fuzz on her face.

Perhaps for the needs of the role, her makeup was heavier than the previous few. The eyeliner was longer, and her lips were painted a deep red.

Further down, Yan Huai caught sight of the mole from her collarbone to the right side of her chest. Placed on her fair and delicate skin, at a glance it looked especially ambiguous and beautiful.

Yan Huai’s Adam’s apple moved. As he shifted his gaze away, he skillfully fastened the first button of the suit jacket for her.

The man’s movements were practiced, his fingers long and attractive. They gradually overlapped with the scene of him fastening her button that rainy night. He Wei bit her lower lip tightly, trembling lightly in spite of herself.

Yan Huai’s fingertips paused. He raised his eyes to look at her. “Cold?”

He Wei’s heart pounded like a drum, yet she couldn’t show it, so she could only pretend to be calm and nod.

Yan Huai glanced at the thin layer of sweat seeping out on the tip of her nose. The corner of his lips curved. When fastening the remaining buttons for her, he deliberately slowed his movements, and then, as expected, saw the little girl trembling even more severely.

She looked very afraid of him, yet she was holding it in and not letting it show.

Yan Huai found it quite interesting. He slightly narrowed his eyes. After fastening the last button, he withdrew his hand. “Go change into another set of clothes.”

He Wei thanked him again and hurriedly pinched the hem of her skirt and returned to the dressing room.

She was slim. That suit covered below her hips; nothing that shouldn’t be exposed was exposed. Yan Huai’s gaze swept over her body and only withdrew after the dressing room door closed.

Several investors and the director present looked at each other. After exchanging glances for more than half a minute, it was still Cheng Yan who cleared his throat. “Ah Huai, you know her?”

Yan Huai responded with an “Mm,” not wanting to explain more, and lifted his foot to walk toward the door.

Cheng Yan called out to stop him. “What are you going to do?”

Yan Huai didn’t turn his head. The hand holding the cigarette lifted slightly. “Smoke.”

He had originally intended to go out to smoke.

Yan Huai’s nicotine craving wasn’t big, but staying on set was quite boring, especially since the few women before had almost identical faces, which annoyed him.

It was just that when he had just gotten up to go out, something happened on He Wei’s side. He reacted quickly and casually grabbed the coat that had been draped over the back of the chair earlier and placed it over her shoulders.

Just a convenient action.

But the few others who had witnessed the whole process obviously didn’t think it was that simple.

When Yan Huai came back after smoking, those few people were gathered together discussing something.

He didn’t pay attention either. He pulled out a chair and sat down, glancing at the stage.

It was an actress who came to audition for the second female lead, apparently a rising young star who had become popular recently.

Yan Huai didn’t have much expression on his face. He glanced at her once, then withdrew his gaze and raised his hand to look at his wristwatch.

Cheng Yan turned his head to look at him. “Busy tonight?”

“No.”

“What’s your relationship with He Wei?”

Yan Huai raised his hand and pressed his brow. “She’s Yan Chen’s new girlfriend.”

“Yan Chen’s girlfriend?” Cheng Yan was puzzled. “That’s not right. If she’s Yan Chen’s girlfriend, you should be quite happy to see her make a fool of herself.”

The Yan family brothers didn’t get along; those of them close to Yan Huai all knew it clearly.

If He Wei was Yan Chen’s girlfriend, then her making a fool of herself would be equivalent to Yan Chen making a fool of himself as well.

Yan Huai’s tone cooled. “Convenient.”

Convenience was indeed one reason.

Although Yan Huai couldn’t be considered a good person, he also had no interest in watching a woman expose herself in front of everyone. Moreover, this woman’s appearance was rarely to his liking.

Seeing that he wasn’t in the mood, Cheng Yan didn’t ask further.

Yan Huai was very strange today. From the afternoon when he arrived until now, neither his tone nor his expression had been good.

After Cheng Yan chatted with the assistant director on his right for a few sentences, he couldn’t help but turn to look at Yan Huai again. “What’s wrong with you today?”

The man frowned. “Didn’t sleep well.”

“Had a wet dream?”

The man’s brows furrowed even deeper.

He neither explained nor refuted.

Cheng Yan froze for a moment. “Seriously?”

Yan Huai’s eyes were dark. He raised his hand and touched his Adam’s apple. “Fake.”

As if it were fake.

Cheng Yan had really guessed right—Yan Huai indeed had an ambiguous, desire-filled wet dream last night.

He was always self-disciplined, and combined with being busy with work, he rarely put thought into such matters. Last night was an exception.

In the dream, every inch of the woman’s skin was fair and smooth. Her collarbones were prominent and beautiful. Although he couldn’t see her face clearly, just her soft, suppressed whimpering was enough to take his life.

Then, at the moment she cried the hardest, the dream abruptly ended.

Yan Huai raised his hand and tugged at his tie, then heard Cheng Yan ask in confusion, “Then why do you look like you’re not very interested?”

Unsatisfied desire—if his interest were high, that would be strange.

Yan Huai didn’t respond.

Although Cheng Yan was a director, when judging whether an actor was suitable, he basically looked at the face first. A few minutes later, he reached out and poked the man beside him. “Ah Huai, take a careful look. If you like any, tell me—I’ll connect you.”

This circle was chaotic to begin with; the unspoken rules, both overt and covert, were well understood by those in the industry. Cheng Yan flipped out the profiles of more than ten actresses who came to audition. “Anyone except He Wei is fine.”

Yan Huai glanced at him.

“Don’t even mention that she’s Yan Chen’s girlfriend—even if she weren’t, it still wouldn’t work,” Cheng Yan flipped to her page and spread his hands. “If anyone dared to sleep with her, Nuo Nuo would make my life miserable.”

Who wouldn’t like a pretty and clean little girl.

If it weren’t because of Cheng Nuo, Cheng Yan might have had improper thoughts himself. He looked at He Wei’s photo on the profile, then sighed. “Cheap for Yan Chen.”

Yan Huai suddenly remembered the alluring mole on He Wei’s chest.

On the woman in last night’s dream, there had been an identical one in the same place.

Yan Huai’s Adam’s apple rolled lightly. Somewhere inside him seemed to ignite. He picked up his cigarettes and stood up. “I’m leaving first.”

After He Wei returned to the dressing room and sat for half an hour, the staff finally brought over a new dress.

After what had just happened, half the makeup on her face was smudged, and the makeup artist could only remove it and redo it.

He Wei’s palms were covered in a layer of sweat. The numbness on her scalp hadn’t subsided yet. She stared at herself in the mirror and asked the system aloud, “Tiantian, am I going to die again tonight?”

“N-No.”

The system hesitated for a few seconds, then asked nervously and excitedly, “Host, why do you call me Tiantian?”

Why else.

Of course it was because she was a silly sweet.

He Wei was sincere and kind, so she put it very tactfully, “Because you’re sweet.”

The system was almost coaxed dizzy by her and instantly became much more confident, proactively explaining, “Originally, according to the plot written by the author, the supporting female character who set you up this time was supposed to take photos of you exposing… your chest… as a black point. Only then would it count as successfully abusing the host. But because the male lead’s older brother blocked it and no photos were taken, congratulations to the host for successfully avoiding the abuse point.”

He Wei’s brow twitched.

She glanced at the makeup artist, who was silently and obediently applying her makeup, and tried to make her voice sound friendlier. “Who came to audition today?”

The damaged outfit earlier had come from the makeup artist’s hands. Although she wasn’t the one who set her up, she still felt guilty toward He Wei and immediately listed all the female stars who came today.

Famous and not famous—there were fourteen people in total.

He Wei ran through those fourteen in her mind and finally filtered out one—Song Zhenzhen.

A popular rising star, the one who, in her previous life, had rolled in passion with Yan Chen on the sofa.

He Wei pressed her lips slightly, her fingers lightly clenching.

After the plot reset, even the order of characters appearing had changed.

During this moment in the previous ten times, Song Zhenzhen had had no interaction with her at all.

He Wei lowered her eyelashes. “Song Zhenzhen is so popular—she still came to audition?”

“Exactly…” the makeup artist said while styling her hair. “She came to audition for the second female lead. This drama has an investment of seven to eight hundred million—it’s a big production. It’s quite normal for Song Zhenzhen to come audition…”

He Wei subtly steered the topic away. “There are rumors online that Song Zhenzhen has a boyfriend outside the circle. I wonder if that’s true.”

“Miss He,” the makeup artist glanced around. Seeing there was no one else in the dressing room, she leaned closer to her ear and whispered, “It’s probably true. When I was doing her makeup just now, I accidentally saw her sending someone WeChat messages—those really clingy ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ kinds of words!”

The makeup artist was talkative. Once she started, she went on endlessly. “When you went on stage to perform just now, she also took her phone and followed you out. Not sure what she went to do…”

He Wei’s lips curled slightly.

It was probably that Song Zhenzhen who had done it.

Looks like she also had the intention of stepping on two boats. He Wei raised her head and blinked at the makeup artist. “Sister Lina, let’s add each other on WeChat.”

She handed over her phone, saying the last sentence casually, “If there’s any gossip, you can chat with me.”

Lina hit it off with her immediately. “No problem!”

Because a small accident happened midway, He Wei was arranged to audition last.

By the time she finished the audition and changed back into her clothes, it was already past six in the afternoon.

Outside, the sun had set and dusk had gathered.

After greeting Cheng Yan, He Wei left the set and took a taxi home.

Cheng Yan and the others retrieved all the surveillance footage on set and reviewed it. After discovering something unusual, he was the first to call Yan Huai.

When Yan Huai received the call, he had just finished taking a cold shower in the bathroom. He lit a cigarette, then answered, “What is it?”

“I know who ruined He Wei’s clothes.”

Yan Huai frowned. “And then?”

“Hey, you’re not planning to help your younger brother’s girlfriend vent her anger?”

Yan Huai’s lips curled faintly. He directly hung up the phone and tossed the phone aside.

Why should he vent anger for someone else’s woman.

Is he sick?